Intake and tracking
Intake support usually starts with your client list and last year's files:
- Sending organizers and engagement letters through your firm's portal, then tracking which have come back
- Comparing documents received against last year's return to build a missing-items list (a W-2 from a job that no longer appears, a brokerage account with no 1099)
- Sending reminders in your firm's name and wording
- Updating a status tracker so partners can see which files are ready for preparation
Document indexing
Client uploads arrive as phone photos, combined PDFs and unlabelled files. Indexing means splitting, rotating and naming each document to your convention, filing it in the right year and client folder, and noting anything illegible or incomplete. A consistent index is what makes review fast.
Source-document data entry
Entry is done in your tax software, under credentials your firm issues and can revoke. Typical items:
| Document | What is entered | Flagged for your preparer |
|---|---|---|
| W-2, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV | Box amounts, payer details, state information | Unusual codes, missing state data, corrected forms |
| Brokerage 1099 statements | Summary or transaction detail per your firm's rule | Missing cost basis, wash sales, items needing adjustment |
| Schedule K-1 | Line items as reported | Statements requiring interpretation, basis questions |
| Form 1098 and property records | Mortgage interest, property tax, rental income and expense summaries | Mixed-use property, refinancing, points |
| Prior-year carryovers | Checked against last year's return | Any difference from the rolled-forward amount |
Data entry is preparation support, not preparation. Decisions about how an item is treated stay with your preparer, and every entered return goes through your firm's review before it is signed or filed.
Your firm stays the preparer of record. Support staff prepare, enter and organise under your direction. Your preparers review the work, and your signer signs and files the return. Responsibility to the client and the IRS stays with your firm.
Quality checks to agree
- A tick-and-tie convention so the reviewer can see each source document was entered
- Diagnostics run and noted before a file is marked ready for review
- A review-notes loop: how your preparers send corrections back, and how fixes are confirmed
- A sample-review rate during the pilot batch, reduced as accuracy is shown
Questions to ask
Do data-entry staff need a PTIN?
IRS rules require a PTIN for anyone paid to prepare, or help prepare, all or substantially all of a federal return. Whether a specific support role needs one depends on the work involved. Ask the provider which roles hold PTINs, and let your firm make the call. See security and compliance.
How is access to our tax software handled?
Ideally through individual user accounts in your software and your remote-access system, with multi-factor sign-in and logging, removed at the end of the engagement. Avoid shared logins.
Can intake work start before documents are complete?
Yes. Indexing and partial entry can start as documents arrive, with the file marked incomplete until the missing-items list is cleared.
Planning support for the next season? Describe your firm's volume, software and review process, and a service partner will reply with a proposed scope.
Request a scope